Giving In
by Miss Maia
Summary: "You're a like a ticking time bomb," Johanna said in a grin. "Someday you'll explode with all the sexual tension you repress." Katniss scoffed and turned back to her work, though she couldn't focus. If only she could forget his voice … Modern Day-AU. Adult Content.


**Author's Note: **Written for Prompts in Panem, Day Five - Lust.

**Warning: **Rated M. Adult Content.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the _Hunger Games_ trilogy; this is just an attempt at fun by playing with someone else's toys.

**Summary: ** "You're a like a ticking time bomb," Johanna said in a grin. "Someday you'll explode with all the sexual tension you repress." Katniss scoffed and turned back to her work, though she couldn't focus. If only she could forget his voice … Modern Day-AU. Adult Content.

* * *

**Giving In**

Katniss Everdeen hated gyms. To her, it was just a bunch of selfish, cocky and sweaty people showing off their own bodies. She would never willingly join that environment—_if_ she wasn't gaining weight.

She was two years away from hitting her thirties, and her crazy schedule and bad dietary habits were taking their toll.

"Join a gym," Johanna, her coworker, had suggested. "I know one close to work, and we can even go together!"

What initially seemed like a good idea turned out to be Katniss' daily nightmare. While Johanna loved to walk around in her tights, Katniss felt extremely uncomfortable working out while there was a shirtless guy zeroing in her butt—and when she scowled at the guy, he'd just wink at her! What was that supposed to be, an invitation?

Katniss was stubborn and determined to lose weight, so she gulped down her disgust for the ambience, blocked the shitty music with some rock and focused only on working out. It didn't help the fact that Cato, the instructor at night, was a man who wore a shirt the size as Katniss', though he was around 150 pounds of muscles heavier than her.

The exposed bodies weren't her worst concern in the sweaty room; the problem was what they implied. Katniss could almost feel the sexual tension pulsating around the gym, the deep cleavages and shirtless parades leaving little to the imagination. The tension wasn't the only thing one could touch in the gym, since the flirting happened non-stop. She could see the sneaky hands and "accidental" bumps all the time. The blatant sexuality made Katniss feel extremely uncomfortable, with the idea of sex so openly discussed.

"You should relax, darling," Johanna told her one night while she gave Katniss a ride home after the gym. "You should try going to the gym's sauna after you exercise." Johanna raised her eyebrows suggestively, her sight deviating from the road for a moment.

"What do you mean?" Katniss sounded confused.

Johanna laughed, but seeing that her friend was genuinely perplexed, she groaned. "Of course you don't know." Johanna laughed harder this time. "Why do you think I went to the sauna in the middle of my training today?"

Katniss vaguely remembered about Johanna flirting with some guy by the treadmill, but it didn't look like anything serious. Did Johanna mean that—

"What do you think that happened in that sauna, Katniss? God, you're so pure."

Her face flushed with embarrassment and recognition. "Please don't tell me you had sex in a public sauna," Katniss said with a mix of surprise and shock.

"Just head, darling. You should try it, someday. It'll do you some good."

"Oh my God… I'm never using that sauna…"

"Everyone does it, brainless." Johanna's laughter filled her car once more. "That's why you're always so stressed."

"Shut up…" Katniss mumbled, her face still hot. She rested her head on the window and tried to tune out from the details. Johanna was bragging about her "quality time" in the sauna with that guy, but she'd be lying if she said she wans't at least a little bit curious. Katniss never thought about having sex in such a public place, and the idea excited her at the same time it scared her.

"But you should try going in the morning if you don't like that." Johanna's word cut through her train of thoughts.

"What did you say?"

"The gym is almost empty in the morning. You should try to go then; there are just old people working out at that time."

Katniss nodded; maybe it would be less crowded and she would forget about sex with a stranger in a steamy room.

* * *

Johanna had never been more right.

In the morning, when most of the cocky guys and slutty girls from the evening crowd were sleeping or working, the gym was a peaceful place. Without the loud music and the intense flirting, it almost seemed like another place entirely.

People also wore longer shirts and pants, since most of the frequenters of the gym were older and better behaved. Katniss was enjoying her time and could finally focus on her solo objective of losing weight—and not steamy sex.

She was doing some pushups when she heard him for the first time. A soft yet masculine voice speaking clearly, followed by a moment of silence. Then she heard an elderly woman laughing, and the gym instructor—a very sympathetic man named Boggs—also joined the woman in a hearty guffaw. But when their voices subdued, Katniss heard again the sound responsible for all the commotion, the clear voice finishing what seemed like a hilarious joke. She turned around to see the face of the man speaking, his messy blond hair catching her attention. His sweaty curls moved while he started to tell a different tale, a darkened tone of blond over enchanting eyes. By then she had stopped her exercise completely, somewhat entranced by the way his wet hair moved, his blue eyes shone with excitement and his smile widened when he finished the story.

The new fit of guffaws startled her, and the man looked at her briefly, with a friendly twinkle in his eyes. She turned her head away and continued her pushups, a scowl firmly in place.

After that day, it was as if he was always there.

Every morning when she entered the gym, he appeared soon after, greeting all the staff and clients, making jokes and complimenting everyone. Katniss couldn't help but roll her eyes—no normal person could be that happy at 7a.m.

She tried her best to ignore him, but even her most fierce scowl wouldn't scare the man. He insisted on meeting her eyes while working out, flashing her unrequired smiles and even waving good-bye to her.

Almost two weeks went by before he first spoke to her.

"I'm Peeta Mellark," he said in his never changing cheerful tone, extending his hand while she drank some water during her break. She honestly thought about ignoring him and turning away to complete her training, but something in those deep blue eyes coaxed her to respond.

"Katniss," she said quietly, reaching for a refill.

"Nice to meet you, Katniss. You're new around here, right? I'm sure I wouldn't forget your... face." He blushed at the last word, his perfect smile accompanied by a wink.

She almost choked on her water as he said that, disguising her surprise with a cough. Peeta smiled broadly and headed back to the dumbbells set.

Katniss pretended to drink more water as she waited for her blush to disappear. Who was that guy to think she was one of those flirty chicks? Though, she couldn't help but look down self-consciously to check on her body. She had indeed lost weight since she had started going to the gym, and her butt surely looked nice. She risked a glance at Peeta, her mouth suddenly dry at seeing how his body filled out his shorts extremely well. Her lips closed over her plastic cup as her eyes wandered over his body, watching his muscles clench in effort at each movement. She didn't notice when he finished his sequence and put the dumbbells down, her eyes still locked on his form; he met her gaze in the mirror in front of him, and for a second, she couldn't look anywhere else but that pair of piercing azure eyes.

Her head snapped back to the side while she fumbled with her plastic cup, her blush deeper than before. At the other side of the gym, Peeta grinned and continued his exercise.

The thought of the gym's sauna didn't leave her mind after that.

* * *

No matter how hard she tried, Katniss wasn't able to keep focused on her work for more than twenty minutes. Her computer screen kept blurring in a foggy vision of blue eyes every time she tried to concentrate.

"I'll finish those reports," Johanna called from behind her, noticing how distracted Katniss was. "If I didn't know you, I'd say you've got a man on your mind."

Katniss blushed slightly, but waved her off. "I'm just tired."

Johanna eyed her suspiciously, studying her up and down. A smile crossed Jo's face and she discreetly bounced on her chair. "Please, tell me you're seeing someone!" she said with a grin.

"Johanna …" Katniss warned her friend, making her grin disappear.

"You're so pent-up. You really should think about dating …"

It was a rule: Katniss Everdeen didn't date. She'd had a few hookups, maybe an unlabeled relationship, but never anything serious. She didn't believe in love, marriage or whatever came with that—and it pissed off Johanna, who was always hoping her friend would find someone to at least have fun with.

"You're a like a ticking time bomb. Someday you'll explode with all the sexual tension you repress." She blew her short hair out of her sight, always frustrated with Katniss on that matter. "I'm just warning you!" Johanna shot her a smirk before turning to her own computer.

Katniss rolled her eyes and tried to disguise the blush sneaking up her chest and neck.

The truth was that Katniss indeed felt like she was about to explode sometimes. With her façade of a strong and independent woman—and her utterly fear of serious relationships—it had been months since the last time she had sex.

_Nine months, three weeks, and two days, _she thought bitterly. But hey, who was counting?

However, Katniss had a reason to suppress her desires and feelings; a reason to explain her deep fear and why she acted the way she did.

She had surrendered to this _bomb_ once in her life, and it ended up as a big mistake. In a dim back room during a college party, her body had taken control of her mind and allowed her inner bomb of lust to explode. And god, how she blew up that night in a mix of tangled limbs, sweaty bodies and messed hair. She had done things she never dared again, and her heart physically ached at the memories of what she had said, what she had done and, the worst, what she had caused. After that crazy night, she woke up to a sore body and a lost friend.

She promised herself not to do anything careless like that, instead ending up as a prude woman who ignored most sex jokes and avoided the topic even with her friends. Though having Johanna as a friend made it difficult; the woman talked about sex with an annoying frequency, filling Katniss' mind with ideas and questions.

But Katniss never surrendered to lust again, keeping her bomb in check and trying to collect the pieces of her first outburst.

This guy at the gym was just a crush, she kept telling herself. His eyes weren't _that_ blue, his muscles not _that_ toned and his low, husky voice didn't really make her think of how he'd moan her name and—

"Damn it," Katniss cursed, her work once more forgotten while she crossed her legs to relieve some of the pressure growing between them.

If she could just forget his voice…

* * *

The gym was practically empty on that Friday before a holiday. Katniss always searched for Peeta during her trainings—it had become irresistible not to at least check out his butt—but today it would be impossible to disguise it, with so few people working out that morning.

She could almost hear the ticking of a time bomb every time her body betrayed her and she stole a glance at him; his biceps contracting while he did pushups, his legs straining while he did lunges … and when she thought she was being furtive, those damned blue eyes were there to lock on hers and twinkle, making her heart accelerate and her legs wobble—not to mention what was happening in her panties.

Katniss was almost finished with her workout when she caught herself looking at the locker rooms' hallway, towards the gym's sauna. Her mind was lost in images of what could happen there in an almost empty gym, the visions of Peeta's sweaty body making her mouth dry.

Suddenly she stopped, snapping out of her reverie. She was daydreaming about him—as if her wet dreams at night weren't enough! Katniss wiped her forehead and tried to calm down, Johanna's voice playing in her head: _Someday you'll explode with all the sexual tension you repress_.

"Not everyone shows up before a holiday." The voice that haunted her dreams—at day _and_ night—startled Katniss from her deep thoughts, and she looked up to see Peeta with his towel over his shoulder, his sweaty hair glued to his forehead, and wearing an effortless smile.

_And_ he was shirtless. Fuck.

She realized she should say something when his eyebrow arched in a silent question. "Oh, right …" Katniss fussed with her own towel, desperately needing to touch anything to prevent her hands from stroking Peeta's broad chest. "My sister is working this holiday, so we won't be traveling," she finished hurriedly, her eyes darting to the forbidden hallway while she avoided looking at him.

"That's nice … I'm staying around the city, too. My family lives here and …" Katniss watched as he nervously searched for words. It was weird, since he never seemed to stop talking with other people. She would focus more on the subject if his chest wasn't so close to her body; she could almost feel the heat emanating from him.

"Yeah, same here." The words felt like a cotton ball in her mouth.

"So …" He twisted his blue towel in his hands, creating the courage to look back at her. "Just your sister as family? I mean, you don't have a boyfriend or something?"

And there was the mix of fear and excitement in her lower belly.

"No," she replied, mentally cursing herself for the shakiness in her voice.

But damn, that chest was _so_ close to her hands; how could she speak coherently around that? The light hairs were darker with sweat, and her needy mind wondered what they would feel under her fingers or—

"Good to know."

When she looked up at him, she knew he caught her shamelessly staring. His grin had a hint of seduction that wasn't normally there, and her head turned to the locker room again.

_Damn it._

"What about you?" She tried to play cool, to be in control, and mustered the best indifferent expression she could. It didn't work very well, and Peeta just smiled wider and gave a small step in her direction.

"No. I'm single." He leaned closer and she scowled, but it didn't diminish his resolve and he whispered next to her ear, his hot breath brushing the hairs that had escaped her braid. "But I'd love to get to know you better."

She swallowed the lump in her throat and felt her skin erupt in goose bumps—she knew what it meant.

Everyone had a limit, and with that soft voice murmuring into her ear, she had just reached hers.

Katniss quickly looked around to make sure they were alone in that section of the gym and saw the other occupants using the treadmill. Satisfied with that, she lowered her hand swiftly and touched the front of Peeta's shorts, making the unprepared man gasp—no matter what he was expecting her reaction to be, it definitely didn't involve her hand on his crotch.

"Meet me at the sauna in five," she whispered, closing her hand around his already hardening member. He nodded furiously, still utterly surprised.

The look on his face when she retreated her hand was priceless: surprise, arousal, and doubt in his fierce blush. As if to confirm to him—and slightly to herself—that she wasn't joking, she winked at him, her eyes deliberately studying his entire body. This time Peeta was agape when she met his eyes again, but his nod was more secure, followed by the bob of his Adam's apple.

Part of her wanted to scream and run away, but her throbbing clit was ignoring it furiously. Katniss rushed to the sauna and fussed with the panel to turn it on, though it was always steamy in there. She was almost losing her resolve when the door opened behind her, and a now fully dressed Peeta entered the small room.

"I didn't want to catch anyone's attention …" He looked down at his shirt, tugging on it lightly.

"But you wanted to before, didn't you? With me?" Katniss knew that tone of voice, her posture … she had passed the point of no return, and her bomb was ready to explode.

He nodded, a line of sweat already forming on his cheek as the steam filled the hot sauna.

"I've wanted you to notice me since the first day." He approached her, both of them standing in the middle of the squared room. "One of the hardest things for me to do is to concentrate on working out while you're wearing tights." His voice was clear, but loaded with want; it made her imagine how he would moan once inside her.

She could see his blue eyes darkening under the dim light, his pupils dilating and his tongue reaching out to lick his sweating lips.

Then, releasing the last bit of control and ignoring the rational part of her brain shouting that was a mistake, she closed the distance between their lips.

Katniss didn't know if it was the steam, her need or simply the _lust_ that made the soft kiss develop fast, their tongues dueling in a hot encounter. Her shirt was wet when he tugged on it, his own hitting the floor before she could raise her arms. Peeta freed her from her t-shirt, only her sports bra preventing him from touching what his eyes were already exploring. His fingers were itching to take it off her body, but she was faster and bared herself to him while he still processed her actions.

Peeta's blue irises were thin lines around his huge pupils, both locked on the hardened nipples so close to his mouth. He sat on the wooden bench and helped her straddle him, both groaning at the contact, their bodies only separated by thin shorts and wet tights.

"Are we really doing this?" His normally husky voice was a tone lower in arousal, his face inches from her bare breasts; she could see how his eyes kept darting from her face to her chest, but his voice still carried a bit of insecurity.

_There is no way to stop this now_, she thought before threading her fingers into his blond curls, pulling his face closer to her. Any doubts Peeta had melted in a throaty growl as his mouth encircled her nipple, her own moan filling the wooden room. She pushed against him harder, needing to feel more of the desire displayed by his hungry tongue and teeth.

Peeta pulled her up to help her get rid of her tights and panties, but they wrapped around her ankles. "Shit…" She tried to kick them off, but they were wet and stuck on her left foot.

His laugh had the same hue of arousal from before, but now mixed with slight amusement. "Let me help you with that."

She watched as he placed her on the bench and knelt, delicately pushing one leg and then another out of her sweaty tights. "See? No need to rush." His eyes were lidded, and Katniss hoped that the longing in them was only for her body; part of her couldn't deal if what Peeta really wanted was more than just a steamy romp in the gym's sauna.

"You still don't—_ah!_" Whatever was going to be her protest flowed as a sharp gasp when his hand traveled from her ankles to her inner thigh. Her eyes closed by themselves when his hand teasingly slid up her sweaty body, the drops of steamy sweat easing its way. She bit her lips when his broad palm pushed her knees wider apart, sneaking up to caress her short, coarse curls. Katniss had forgotten how _good _a man's hand could feel between her legs, and her body rejoiced in the fact that it wasn't her own fingers searching to give her pleasure.

She could feel his gaze on her face, watching her while his fingers moved to split her folds and tease along her center. He got up from the floor to sit next to her, one hand between her legs and the other winding around her waist as he nuzzled her neck with his nose.

"You're so hot." Peeta cursed to himself as soon as the words left his mouth. "I mean, you're beautiful. But not that you're not hot. It's just that we're here, and the sauna, and—"

"Don't stop." She opened her eyes, frustration spreading through her body because his hand had stopped moving. "Your hands," she emphasized, her hips bucking to meet his fingers. "Don't stop."

His mouth curled in a smile, and he silently continued his steady ministrations. Peeta breathed heavily on her neck as his hands moved in larger arcs, his grunts merging with her increasing moans as he applied more pressure, more friction.

Katniss was about to come, but it wouldn't be enough; what was taking over her body and soul wouldn't be quenched with just that. She needed more; she needed to lose every drop of self-control and let herself be guided by pure lust.

Peeta was so entranced with moving his hand that he just realized what she was doing when they were both already on the floor. Katniss pushed his hand away and guided him on his back, sitting on his hips as soon as he was spread under her. His expression of confusion and surprise turned into expectation when her hand ran down his chest to pull off his shorts, freeing his erection in a harsh move that educed a guttural growl from him.

"Oh, my… my shorts," he stammered, seeing her hungry hand cupping him entirely. "My wallet in my shorts," he tried to say again, but her fingers closed harder around him and all he could manage was another deep groan. He reached down to hold her wrists, his eyes begging her to look at him. "There's a condom in my wallet," he finally breathed out, and her lidded gray eyes widened in realization.

Katniss had forgotten of how careless she could be when possessed by desire; and she didn't want to be as careless as the last time.

Snatching his wallet from his discarded shorts, she tore the package with her teeth. Peeta watched her in amusement, this whole morning turning out to be much different from what he had planned—and much better.

"We're really doing this," he half questioned himself, and Katniss rolled her eyes.

"If you ask this one more time—" He understood her message and reached up to kiss her again, silencing her with his tongue.

She pushed him down once more, never breaking the hot kiss. Her hands dug into his shoulders and she grinned, finally being able to touch the body she'd desired for weeks. Katniss watched as her nails left red lines where she pressed, eliciting a hiss that made her clit throb even more. Their bodies were damp with sweat and the increasing vapor around them, and her kisses over his body tasted of salt and pleasure.

For a reason she couldn't quite place—even though she knew her body, and not her mind, was in control—it felt different from the last time she surrendered to do something as impulsive as this. In college, at the not-to-be-remembered party, it had felt surreal and confused, crazy and careless while she slept with her one-time best friend.

Now, as she pulled herself on top of him, feeling his large hands holding her hips firmly, she was in a clear state of mind and would remember everything—not just the consequences.

It was the first time she consciously let herself be guided by raw desire.

And just like that, she exploded.

Their hips met again in one single move, and Peeta pushed his head back on the floor—it would hurt later, but now the only feeling he could process was of Katniss' walls adjusting to him.

Between the steams filling the room along with their hot sighs, Katniss saw what her mind had already pictured: Peeta's bright blue eyes intense with desire and piercing with longing. He had wanted her as much as she had wanted him; she wasn't sure if this scared her or not.

Pushing down her thoughts, she moved her hips first forward to rub on her clit, and then followed Peeta's lead as he guided her up and down. She allowed the heat of the moment and the increasing bliss to guide her movements, her tongue darting out when Peeta extended his hand to run his thumb along her lips. The small gesture was as exciting as the fullness inside her.

The small room seethed with steam and moans, the sound of flesh against flesh providing the background when Katniss came in a strong wave of repressed want; it all unraveled at once, and she rode out the ecstasy over and over. What pushed Peeta over the edge was seeing her satisfied expression while she writhed above him, and his hands stilled on her hips as he moaned her name.

It sounded so good coming from his lips.

Their labored breaths echoed in the now quiet sauna, the air hot with sweat.

"Do you have plans for the holiday?"

She felt his voice vibrating under her chest while he asked.

"Not really."

His hand rested softly under her chin. She looked up to find his blue eyes staring deeply at her. "Do you want to have plans?"

Katniss bit her lips, and fighting against what screamed at her to say no, she flashed a smirk and nodded, already slinking down his body to trace kisses on his belly.

Johanna was right, after all. The sauna could be extremely fun.

* * *

I'm sagacious-owl on tumblr ;D

Special thanks to the betareader: **honeylime. **


End file.
